Alkali on a support promoted by iron or iron and antimony in sulfur dioxide removal



United States Patent US. Cl. 252-464 2 Claims Int. Cl. B01j 11/22; B01d 53/00 ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The removal of S0 from hot gaseous mixtures by an alkalized alumina, magnesia or chromia solid acceptor and the regeneration thereof is improved by incorporating a minor amount of iron oxide and, optionally, antimony oxide into the solid acceptor.

This is a division of application, Ser. No. 390,754, filed Aug. 19, 1964.

This invention relates to an improvement in aprocess and catalyst for removing sulfur dioxide from flue gases.

Air pollution with sulfur dioxide is a major problem in the United States today. Sulfur dioxide is objectionable not only because of its extremely unpleasant odor but is also toxic in concentrations over about parts per million, and is destructive to vegetation in concentrations of 1 part per million and lower. Sulfur dioxide and its oxidation product, sulfuric acid, are the principal cause of acidity in rain and fog which can in turn be very corrosive. The problem is indeed a large one; it was estimated in 1960 that 21 million tons per year of S0 are released to the atmosphere of the- United States from combustion of fuel oil and coal.,As a result of recent concern with smog andair pollution, increased legislation restricting the amounts of pollutants released to the atmosphere is expected. Accordingly, the present invention, which allows economic removal of S0 from gas mixtures on an industrial scale, is very desirable.

The US. Bureau of Mines has developed a process for the removal of 50 through the use of solid acceptors at flue gas temperatures. This process has distinct advantages over liquid absorption processes which require excessive cooling of the gases which are ultimately discharged at low temperatures and remain near ground level, sometimes causing as much or more local pollution than the untreated flue gas. The Bureau of Mines process obviates these problems by 'efifecting removal at flue gas temperature, allowing ready dissipation of the stack gases into the upper atmosphere. This process is described in Bureau of Mines report No. 5735, Process Development in Removing Sulfur Dioxide From Hot Flue Gases, Part I, 1961. This report describes a process wherein 'SO -containing gas is contacted at about 100-500 C.

with a solid acceptor which is subsequently regenerated by contacting with a reducing gas such as hydrogen and/or carbon monoxide. Supported alkali metal compounds, for example, alkalized alumina, are used as acceptors. The acceptor functions by binding the sulfur dioxide as a sulfate.

It has now been discovered that a more efiicient acceptor comprises in addition to supported alkali metal, iron or a combination of iron and antimony. This discovery is surprising because iron and iron compounds or antimony and antimony compounds are not suitable in themselves to bind sulfur dioxide. For instance, an

3,428,575 Patented Feb. 18, 1969 acceptor consisting of ferric oxide on alpha-alumina is not capable of binding more than very small quantities of sulfur dioxide. Similarly, antimony pentoxide supported on alumina is unsuitable as an acceptor. Not only do these new acceptors increase the capacity of the supported alkali acceptors but they also improve regenerability which proceeds faster and to a greater extent than with the conventional catalysts.

The beneficial effect of the presence of iron or iron compounds in the acceptor is apparent when the iron is present in very small amounts. It is preferred to include a quantity by weight of iron which is at least 0.01 of the content in percent by weight of alkali metal. Particular preference is given to acceptors in which the iron content is from 0.01% to 20%, especially 0.2% to 10%, of the alkali metal content. In a preferred aspect of the invention the acceptor contains antimony or antimony compounds in addition to alkali metal and iron. The beneficial effects of the additional presence of antimony are also apparent at very low concentrations of antimony. Antimony contents of at least 0.01%, preferably 0.01 to 20%, especially 0.2 to 10% by weight of alkali metal content are preferred.

The content of alkali metal compounds in the acceptor may vary Within wide limits. The content of alkali metal compounds in general is at least 1%, preferably at least 5%, especially 5-25% by weightof the acceptor calculated as percent by weight of alkali metal. The kind of iron and antimony compounds used to prepare the acceptor is not critical; as examples mention can be made of nitrates, sulfates, halides, sulfides, tartrates, oxalates, carbonates, etc. It is most desirable to employ an anion which will decompose on calcining. After calcining, the metals are present on the carrier as oxides; for convenience, however, calculations of the amount of metal dispersed on the acceptor are based on the amount of metal rather than the amount of metal compound.

Any stable solid carrier material such as magnesium oxide, aluminum oxide, and chromium oxide are suitable carriers. Preferred carrier material is aluminum oxide, especially alpha alumina.

Sulfur dioxide acceptance is usually effected at approximately fiue gas temperature. Suitable temperatures, for example, are from about to 400 C.; acceptance temperatures of 250300 C. are prefered. Any process technique known to establish contact between a gas and solid may be used in effecting S0 removal; for example, fixed bed, moving bed and fluid bed techniques may be mentioned. The good acceptance and regeneration performance of the acceptors of the invention makes the process particularly amenable to continuous processing.

For economical operations, regeneration characteristics of the acceptor are critical. The acceptors of the invention excel both in rate of regeneration and degree of regenerability. The rate of regeneration of alkali acceptors based on alkali metals approximately doubles upon addition of iron or iron compounds. If antimony or antimony compounds are added in addition to the iron, the regeneration rate further. increases six-fold. Degrees of regenerability increase on the same order of magnitude.

Regeneration is carried out at elevated temperatures in the presence of a reducing gas. Temperatures required for regeneration may vary within wide limits but are preferably within 500-700 C., especially 600700 C. Suitable regeneration gases are hydrogen, hydrogen-containing gas mixtures, carbon monoxide, and carbon monoxide-containing gas mixtures. Preferred regeneration gases are low-boiling hydrocarbons or gases containing low-boiling hydrocarbons, for example, methane and natural gas. The acceptor may be raised to regeneration temperature by heating the acceptor with a gas mixture which has been obtained by burning the reducing gas with an underdose of air, thus effecting the regeneration The properties of the newly prepared acceptor were as follows:

. Grain size mm 0.5-4

Antim n o t nt do 8.5

which the sulfur dioxide 1s bound to the acceptor. 5 O y n e The acceptor applied in the process according to the in- Sodium OXlde, 1T11 OXlde a antlmony OXlde vention may be prepared in any known manner. An exon alp ample of known techn ques is a method wherein the car- The preparation of this acceptor took place by impregnet 18 lml'freghated wlth sohlhohs of the hchve compo nation of alpha-alumina with a saturated solution of sohehts f suhseqhehhy' dned ahh/or Calclhedh f f dium nitrate in water which contained also ferrous sulfate method to mm the hw h and the earner and potassium antimonyl tartrate. After drying under vacmately by meahs of copljeclphahoh and Subsequently to uum at 120 C., calcination was carried out for three dry and/Or calclhe the Immune hours at 500 C. under air flow. The properties of the EXAMPLES 15 newly prepared acceptor were as follows:

To illustrate the benefits of acceptors of the invention, Grain Size mm- 0.5-4 the following acceptors were prepared and used in the S0d1um content percent w 10.2 process of the invention: Iron content do 0606 Potassium content do 0. 19

' (I) Sodium oxide on alpha-alumina 20 Antimony content do 006 gi i f s hi i g zgf pg g: The acceptors prepared above were applied in removing g i g'i gg agi i f g 3 sulfur dioxide from a gas mixture. This gas mixture was and calcining for three hours at 500 C. under air flow. Synthetlc flue gas havmg the fonOWmg Comp 051mm:

The properties of the newly prepared acceptor were as P r mfollows: grain size 0.5-4 mm.; sodium content 12.5% w. CO 13.2

(II) Iron oxide on alpha-alumina i Alpha-alumina was impregnated with a saturated solu- B 0 5.4 tion of ferric nitrate in water. After drying under vacuum SO 2.2 3; fib was Can-led out for three hours This gas mixture was passed over the acceptors in a The properties of the newly prepared acceptor were as ge7a3c5tor as described 1n the Bureau of Mines Report No. follows: Useful life of the acceptors was determined by moment Grain size mm 0.5-4 (if-breakthrough of sulfur dioxide in the flue gas. Break- Iron content percent W 9.1 through times, which were taken to be the time expressed III S d 1 h l in minutes for the S0 concentration in the effluent gas 0 mm 0X1 e an e on a P umma to reach p.p.m., are tabulated below. Loaded ac- The preparation of this acceptor took place according 40 ceptors were regenerated with methane. Acceptors II and to the method described on page 11 of the Report No. IV were not regenerated because of low breakthrough 5735, Process Development in Removing Sulfur Dioxide loadings. For acceptors I, III and V, the acceptance-re- From Hot Flue Gases, Part I (1961), US. Department generation cycle was repeated several times. Results of of the Interior, Bureau of Mines. The aluminum sulfate comparable cycles are reported in the table below.

TABLE I Acceptor Applied I II III IV v (Na) (Fe) (Na, Fe) (K, Sb) (Na, Fe, Sb)

Acceptance at 270 0.:

Space velocity, g. per g. metal per hour 0.072 0. 33 0.063 0. 28 0.31 Load of the acceptor, percent:

At the beginning of the acceptance 41. 3 0 60. 9 0 15. 7

At SOzbreakthrough 46.6 1.3 69.5 20.0 50.0

S02 breakthrough time, minutes 60 14 17 90 Regeneration at 650 0.:

Space velocity, g. methane per g. metal per hour 0.4 0. 18 0. 59

Percentage regenerated 42. 9

Rate of regeneration, g. sulfur per kg. acceptor per hour 500 t;

Qlfiantity of acceptor required for binding 1 kg. sulfur,

l 50 parts by volume of S02 per million parts by volume of flue gas.

solution which was mixed with the sodium carbonate solution also contained ferrous sulfate. The properties of the.

newly prepared acceptor were as follows:

Grain size n1m 0.5-4 Sodium content percent w 22.2 Iron content do 0.23

(IV) Potassium oxide and antimony oxide on alpha-alumina The preparation of this acceptor took place as follows: alpha-alumina was impregnated with a solution of potassium antimonyl tartrate in water saturated at 90 C. After drying under vacuum at C. calcination was carried out at 500 C. for three hours under air flow.

From the above data the following conclusions are apparent:

Acceptor II (iron only) is not serviceable because breakthrough of S0 occurs after only 14 minutes; at that time the acceptor has bound only 1.3% of the theoretical quantity of S0 From a comparison of the acceptors I (sodium only) and III (sodium and iron), it is clear that breakthrough" time is about doubled upon addition of iron, and that the capacity for binding S0 is substantially increased. Antimony alone is not capable of raising the capacity of alkali oxide as appears from the test data for acceptor IV. Comparison of the test data of acceptors I, HI and V shows that addition of both iron and antimony yields an even better result th n addition of iron only. The uptake capacity (difierence between percent load at beginning and end of acceptance) has been enhanced several fold and the regenerability and rate of regeneration have also been considerably increased. These results are reflected in the figures for the quantity of acceptor required to bind 1 kg. of sulfur.

We rlaim as our invention:

1. A solid acceptor for the removal of S0 from hot gases which com-prises alkali metal oxide and iron oxide dispersed on alphaalumina, the alkali metal oxide being present in an amount from 1 to 25% w., basis alkali metal, of the total weight of acceptor, and the iron oxide being present in an amount from 0.01 to about 10% w., basis iron, of the amount of alkali metal.

2. A solid acceptor for the removal of $0 from hot gases which comprises alkali metal oxide, iron oxide and antimony oxide dispersed on alpha-alumina, the alkali metal oxide being present in an amount from 1 to 25% w., basis alkali metal, of the total weight of acceptor, the iron oxide being present in an amount from 0.01 to about 10% W., basis iron, of the amount of alkali metal, and the antimony oxide being present in an amount from 0.01 to about 10% w., basis antimony, of the amount of alkali metal.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,992,884 7/1961 Bienstock et a1. 252476 3,260,679 7/1966 OGrady et al. 252466 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,357,337 2/1964 'France.

DANIEL E. WYMAN, Primary Examiner.

P. E. KONOPKA, Assistant Examiner.

US. Cl. X.R. 

